TL;DR:
- AI email marketing software for nonprofits makes personalized donor outreach possible at scale.
- Compare five top AI email tools and what each offers.
- Look for donor context, voice matching, smart outreach, and CRM logging.
- Choose AI that supports fundraisers while keeping humans in control.
Let’s be honest: Adding someone’s name to the front of an email doesn’t really count as “personalized” anymore.
We’ve all been on the receiving end of those emails. And besides your name haphazardly thrown into the beginning sentence, the messaging feels generic and not actually written to you.
But have you sent those emails? No judgment if so.
As a fundraiser, you might know many of your donors well, but sending personalized messaging to every single donor is still a tall order. Despite how sophisticated your email marketing software is for your nonprofit.
With AI, this is now possible.
The best AI email marketing software for nonprofits empowers you to send emails that:
→ Remember life details: birthdays, anniversaries, giving anniversaries, job changes, etc.
→ Reference specific gift history, not just the last gift
→ Acknowledge where the relationship stands with nuance
→ Aren’t copied and pasted from the last contact
So, what does this mean for you as a fundraiser?
It might be time to reevaluate the email marketing software your nonprofit uses.
Because if it’s not using AI to its full potential, you might still be sending those emails with a first name thrown at the front while everyone else is actually connecting with their donors.
Here, we’ll cover a list of the best AI email marketing software for nonprofits, so you can leave knowing all your top choices.
The 5 Best AI Email Marketing Software for Nonprofits
At Virtuous, we offer cutting-edge fundraising products for AI emails, so we’ll start our list with our own products (because we’re proud of what we built!). That said, we know that not every AI email marketing software fits every nonprofit.
So, whether you land on our own products…or another option…we hope this article leads you to the right AI email option for your nonprofit.
1. Virtuous Momentum
Virtuous Momentum is an AI fundraising assistant that drafts personalized emails to your donors in your own voice but never sends emails without human edits and approval. The AI learns from both uploaded examples of your previous writing and how you edit and refine its output. So, it’s constantly adjusting to sound more like you.
But Momentum is also way more than just an email assistant.
- Daily outreach suggestions surface top contact opportunities, so you always have a daily plan
- Dynamic engagement plans lay out personalized next steps for each donor and update automatically, so you’re always up to speed
- Automated reminders ensure birthdays, anniversaries, and key moments never slip through
- Auto-logging to your CRM gives you the full picture of every donor, no matter where you’re looking
We’re proud of the results our customers have seen using Momentum:
→ The Life You Can Save raised $75,000 in five months — a first-time major gifts officer reviving dormant donor relationships
→ Radford University cut Giving Day outreach from 12 hours to 2, driving 2,700 actions and 24 gifts across an 800+ young alumni portfolio
→ MSU Denver doubled a gift officer’s portfolio from 250 to 500 donors, and saw a 60% response rate on personalized birthday emails
→ UW–Eau Claire sent ~2,000 individualized emails in 4 months
See what you can accomplish when you schedule a Momentum demo HERE.
Or see what a day in your life could look like with Momentum in the video below:
2. Virtuous CRM+
Virtuous CRM+ also uses AI for more personalized email outreach.
In fact, every CRM+ customer gets access to 100 AI-drafted emails a month…powered by Momentum.
Here’s how it works:
- Open any contact record and click Compose with Momentum
- An overlay surfaces everything the AI needs to know about that person: name, email, giving summary, lifetime giving, and tags
- Type what you want to say in plain language…ie. “thank her for the year-end gift and mention the new after-school program”
- The AI uses your prompt and the donor context to write a full draft, subject line included
- Don’t love it? Add a little more to your prompt and regenerate
- Click Open in Email, and the whole thing…recipient, subject, body…drops straight into Outlook, Apple Mail, or Gmail
- You send it from there. Virtuous drafts the email; you’re always the one who hits send.
To see it in action, schedule a demo HERE.
Or check out the video below, where Brian Cavanaugh, our Group Product Manager, explains how it works:
3. Gravyty Raise
Gravyty Raise is an AI fundraising assistant for advancement and nonprofit teams.
What It Does:
- Drafts outreach emails with smart prompts and auto-drafted messages
- Points you toward high-potential prospects already sitting in your database
- Manages dynamic portfolios with prompts to qualify, prioritize, and follow up
- Lets you draft and send tailored emails from your inbox, no extra logins or copy-paste
- Builds donor travel plans, which is rare in this category
- Reaches donors by email, SMS, and video
Limitations:
- Gravyty’s AI learns your writing style from your edits over time, but doesn’t train on uploaded writing samples or a fundraiser bio up front
- Integrations list payment processors like Stripe, PayPal, and Braintree rather than native donation forms
Best for: Advancement and nonprofit teams of any size, from large university development offices to one-person shops.
See our full Momentum vs. Gravyty Raise comparison.
4. Signal by EverTrue
Signal by EverTrue is a donor engagement platform that works alongside your CRM rather than replacing it, built to give fundraising teams a daily outreach workflow.
What It Does:
- Drafts outreach messages with AI and suggests follow-up tasks based on recent activity
- Sends email, makes calls, and records video directly in the platform
- Runs automated cadences with daily task lists that adjust based on how a donor responds
- Supports 1:many cadences with automated emails and reusable templates
- Generates AI donor summaries from history, interactions, and updated career info
- Builds prioritized outreach lists flagging recent gifts and engagement signals
- Consolidates donor records with portfolio-based segmentation
- Works fully on iOS and Android for notes and tasks on the road
Limitations:
- EverTrue doesn’t offer a CRM, so Signal always pairs with a database from a different vendor. That means two companies, two support teams, and a sync in between
- EverTrue’s donor enrichment data refreshes on a nightly cycle
- Its AI helps you prepare faster, but doesn’t learn your writing voice
Best for: Fundraising teams who want a daily outreach workflow alongside their existing CRM, especially those already using ThankView, Pledgemine, or DonorSearch.
See our full Momentum vs. EverTrue comparison.
5. Bonterra Que
Bonterra Que is an AI assistant built into Bonterra’s existing fundraising tools.
What It Does:
- Writes personalized emails and branded forms from your past campaigns and brand voice
- Builds donor segments from giving history and interests using plain-language commands
- Pulls up a donor’s engagement history with suggested follow-ups
- Drafts personalized SMS in your organization’s voice
- Coaches you on fundraising strategy using data from thousands of campaigns
- Leaves you in control of what actually gets sent
Limitations:
- Only works inside Bonterra products, so you’ll need EveryAction, Network for Good, or Nonprofit Hub
- Email writing isn’t in the free Nonprofit Hub. That takes EveryAction or Network for Good
- Skills vary by product, so check that the ones you want come with your plan
- Writes in your brand voice, not each fundraiser’s own voice
Best for: Nonprofits already on EveryAction or Network for Good.
What Features Should Nonprofits Look for in AI Email Marketing Software?
Most people thinking through the question…What is the best AI email marketing software for nonprofits?...want to know what features to look for.
And let’s face it, AI assistance in email writing is a newer technology, so knowing what to look for isn’t always straightforward.
From our experience, these are the best questions to ask:
Does the AI Draft From the Donor Record, or a Blank Prompt Box?
Add “AI-drafted” as a label to a nonprofit email platform, and it sounds sophisticated.
But we’ve all experienced terrible drafts from AI.
The difference between good and bad AI-drafted emails can often come down to context.
Your go-to AI email marketing software should pull from donor records. That means the draft starts with what you already know about this person, not with a blank box waiting for you to type it all in.
With Virtuous Momentum, a draft pulls the donor’s giving history, recent gifts, relationship stage, past engagements, events they’ve attended, and your own notes on the record. All of it, before you write a word.
That’s the test worth running on any platform you’re evaluating. Open a contact record and ask what the AI can see before you start typing. If the answer is nothing, you’re not getting AI-drafted emails. You’re getting a writing assistant that happens to live next to your donor data.
Can It Learn an Individual Writer’s Voice?
Individual tone and voice beats “brand voice” every day when it comes to emailing your donors.
So, if an AI email marketing software for nonprofits claims to write in your brand voice, that’s great and all.
But this email is actually coming from a gift officer at your organization.
An email can contain very personalized details, but if it sounds “off” or “like AI,” it can have the opposite effect.
Momentum trains on each fundraiser’s own writing samples, bio, and the way they describe your organization, down to their phrasing and sign-off. Then it keeps adjusting based on the edits they make.
Is Human Review Enforced Before Send?
At this point, we’ve probably all been on the receiving end of writing that is clearly written by AI. It can feel frustrating and even belittling.
Your AI email software should allow you to generate a draft using AI but never send without your review, edits, and consent.
Does It Tell You Who to Contact, Not Just What to Write?
When you actually find yourself with the time to reach out to donors, it’s beyond aggravating if you end up spending much of that time trying to decide who to reach out to.
Finding an AI email software that provides smart outreach suggestions alleviates this by saving you time and not wasting valuable energy deciding who to email next.
Does It Offer Donor Plans?
If your AI email marketing software can hold the bigger picture of your donors, that’s a level up from simply drafting AI emails.
Look for software that knows what should happen after the email you’re writing right now.
Momentum’s AI Engagement Planner builds that out for each donor, working from their giving history, engagement activity, communication patterns, and your own notes. It maps the next steps across emails, calls, meetings, events, stewardship touches, and ask preparation. Every plan is editable, and nothing activates until you’ve reviewed it.
So you’re not rebuilding the plan in your head every week. It’s already there, and it shifts as the donor responds.
Does It Log Activity Back Automatically?
If you’re using a separate platform for your email marketing, it can truly defeat the purpose if you have to manually log everything back to your CRM.
When you select a platform that auto-logs to your CRM, this takes the headache away. You should be able to see all activity easily in one place without patching systems together.
AI in Nonprofit Email Marketing Should Come Second to You
As with most AI technologies, AI in email marketing for nonprofits is ever-evolving.
The best platforms are continuously updating and growing.
But what won’t change is keeping it personal and real with your donors. AI can be used to accelerate your ability to reach out to donors, but it should never be used to replace you.
FAQs: What is the Best AI Email Marketing Software for Nonprofits?
What Is AI Email Marketing for Nonprofits?
AI email marketing for nonprofits uses artificial intelligence to draft donor emails, suggest who to contact next, and log outreach automatically. The benefit is scale: writing something personal for every donor becomes possible even with a large portfolio.
What Is the Best AI Email Marketing Software for Nonprofits?
The best AI email marketing software for nonprofits depends on whether the AI needs to know your donors. Virtuous Momentum and Virtuous CRM+ draft from the donor record itself. Gravyty Raise, Signal by EverTrue, and Bonterra Que also work with donor data.
Which AI Email Marketing Platforms Are Built Specifically for Nonprofits?
Some of the best AI email marketing platforms built specifically for nonprofits are Virtuous Momentum, Virtuous CRM+, Gravyty Raise, Signal by EverTrue, and Bonterra Que.
What Features Should Nonprofits Look for in AI Email Marketing Software?
Nonprofits should look for six features in AI email marketing software: drafting from the donor record, learning an individual fundraiser’s voice, required human review before send, outreach suggestions, donor plans, and automatic CRM logging.
Which AI Capabilities Improve Donor Retention?
The AI capabilities that improve donor retention are the ones that keep relationships moving: daily outreach suggestions, dynamic engagement plans, automated reminders for birthdays and giving anniversaries, and auto-logging to your CRM.
Will Donors Know an Email Was Written by AI?
Even if AI was used to draft an email, you can still foster authentic connection with your donors if your email platform pulls from real donor context, sounds like the fundraiser sending it, and gets reviewed before sending. Momentum never sends without your edits and approval.
